Former Apple CEO John Sculley Invests In New Indian Smartphone Brand

Former Apple CEO John Sculley is one of the principal investors behind a new smartphone brand set to launch in India.

The as-yet-unnamed brand is being funded by the investment and acquisition company, Inflexionpoint, for which Sculley serves as a founding partner.

The brand is set to be led by Ajay Sharma, who was previously head of HTC’s India operation. The company will launch a series of smartphones, which will debut in April this year.

While Apple has shown itself keen to expand into India, anyone who wants to spin this as a war between Apple Past and Apple Present (or, rather, Sculley vs. Cook) will perhaps be disappointed. Sharma’s new line of smartphones will reportedly be priced between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 — making them lower-end devices than Apple’s iPhone.

While no details have yet been released about how the new smartphone brands plans to distinguish itself in the marketplace, Ajay Sharma insists that he has plans as to how this can be achieved.

Even if he can’t do this, the company may still end up making bank. Smartphone shipments in India reportedly grew 3x from 16.2 million in 2012 to 44 million in 2013 — and analysts expect that same growth curve to continue this year.